Famed fashion photographer Mario Testino has honored his longtime friend and muse Kate Moss in Kate Moss by Mario Testino, a 128-page limited edition tome chronicling the journey of one of fashion’s most inspired partnerships. Bursting with intimate photographs – many of which have been chosen from Testino’s private archive and are published here for the first time – the book gives fans an insight into their almost 20-year friendship, beginning with their first meeting backstage at a show: “I met Kate very early on. Shortly after her first Galliano show I went backstage to congratulate her, only to find her crying: she was disappointed that she had only been given one outfit to model in the show,” says Mario.

From there, a friendship blossomed and soon, the pair was working together on groundbreaking editorials. “Mario took me to a new level of glamour. I don’t think anybody had seen me as any kind of sexy model before he did. He was the one that transformed me. Before him I was just a grungy girl, but he saw me differently. He was the first to say “Oh, she’s quite sexy. I’ve seen her out! I know she’s not just that grungy girl.” He’d seen me in a pair of heels, getting glamorous – and he was the first to start taking pictures of me in that way. He changed the way people thought about me as a model, for sure. Later other people started working with me in that way, but he was the first.”

Kate Moss by Mario Testino includes a foreword by Mario Testino, an essay by Kate Moss and over 100 images, including never-before-seen private photographs. The book is contained in a boxed hardback special edition and has a limited run of 1,500 signed copies – in other words, get in quickly. You can pre-order Kate Moss by Mario Testino from Amazon.com for $400. It will be released on September 1.